Preserving the camp sites: Manzanar and landmark bills, May 1991

Vol. 112, No. 20, May 24, 1991. 12 pages. View this issue

Efforts to preserve the sites of the World War II incarceration (often called internment) led this 12-page issue. Congressman George Miller introduced a bill to study the camps, detention centers and military installations for national historic landmark status, co-sponsored by Norman Mineta and Robert Matsui. Another bill, introduced by Rep. Mel Levine, would make Manzanar a national historic site, and Sue Kunitomi Embrey traveled to Washington to testify. A sidebar lists sites under consideration, from Tule Lake and Heart Mountain to Poston, Topaz and Gila River.

Elsewhere, the Excellence 2000 Awards honored Asian Americans including Dustin Nguyen and Kenji Yoshino. Chris Komai wrote about home movies filmed by Issei pioneers for a new museum, and Bill Hosokawa remembered his Japanese professor. Chapters reported on Executive Order 9066 anniversary plans and redress workshops. A fifth-grader’s game for blind children also drew coverage.

What’s in this issue

National

• Asians Honored for Achievements at Excellence 2000 Awards, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Distinguished Asian Americans including Dustin Nguyen, Maj. Gen. William S. Chen, Flossie Wong-Staal, David Lee, and Kenji Yoshino were honored at the Excellence 2000 Awards Program in Washington, D.C. The event also featured a business development and leadership forum covering economic opportunities in Asia and career advancement issues, with proceeds benefiting the Asian American Scholarship Fund.
• Asian Council to Advise Democrats, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A council has been reestablished to advise the Democratic Party on issues affecting Asian Americans. The brief item introduces the council’s formation without extensive detail.
• Bush Names Nikkei to National Positions, by P.C. Staff, page 1. President George Bush appointed Eunice Sato and Mikiso Hane to national education positions; Sato, former Long Beach mayor, joins the National Advisory Council on Educational Research and Improvement while Hane was nominated to the National Council on the Humanities. Both have long records of community and academic service, with Sato having been the first non-Caucasian female mayor of Long Beach and Hane an accomplished historian and former Poston internee.
• Bob Suzuki Named President of Cal Poly Pomona, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Bob H. Suzuki was named the new president of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, becoming the only Asian president in the CSU system. He previously served as vice president of academic affairs at Cal State Northridge, where he focused on minority student and faculty recruitment.
• Southeast Asian Students Receive Scholarships Funded by Nisei Relocation Fund, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Fourteen Southeast Asian students were honored with $1,000 scholarships in Seattle, funded by the Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund established by Japanese Americans once helped out of internment camps. Organizers noted the parallel experience of uprooted refugees who left their homelands as reasoning behind the selection.

Incarceration & Redress

• Bill Would Make Camps National Historic Landmarks, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Congressman George Miller introduced a bill to study Japanese American internment camps, temporary detention centers, and military installations for designation as national historic landmarks. The bill, co-sponsored by Norman Mineta and Robert Matsui, aims to preserve the history of wartime injustice for future generations.
• Manzanar Up for Park Status, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A bill to make Manzanar a national historic site was scheduled for a House Interior Affairs Committee hearing, introduced by Rep. Mel Levine and cosponsored by several California congressmen. Sue Kunitomi Embrey and Hiroshi traveled to Washington to testify in support, calling it a natural next step following redress legislation.
• Sites Considered for Landmarks, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A sidebar lists the internment camps and temporary detention centers under consideration for national historic landmark study, including Tule Lake, Manzanar, Rohwer, Gila River, Poston, Granada, Jerome, Heart Mountain and Topaz, as well as assembly centers like Santa Anita and Tanforan. The list details sites across California, Arizona, Washington and Oregon.

Community

• Redress Workshops Set for L.A. Area, by P.C. Staff, page 2. June redress workshops have been scheduled in the Los Angeles area by the Department of Justice and the Office of Redress Administration. Sessions will be held at locations in Gardena, and other areas to answer questions on individual redress cases.
• West Valley JACL Installs Officers, Hears From Matsui, by P.C. Staff, page 3. At the West Valley JACL installation dinner, Rep. Robert Matsui thanked the chapter for its support of the redress bill, crediting letters and contacts with officials as significant factors in its passage, and praised 442nd veteran Rudy Tokiwa for his advocacy. New chapter officers were installed including David Maracke as reelected president, with a new Young Adults group formed to engage Sansei members.
• Sonoma County Survivor’s Project Exhibit Draws Attention, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A critical newspaper review gave added notice to Sonoma County’s Survivor’s Project exhibit at the Sonoma County Museum, which relates experiences of local residents who suffered loss of civil rights, including Japanese Americans, Cambodians, and Holocaust survivors. Chapter president Carol Kawase urged members to share their own internment stories with the exhibit’s researchers.
• Pacific Northwest District Council Discusses 50th Anniversary Plans, by P.C. Staff, page 4. At a PNWDC meeting hosted by Lake Washington chapter, Scott Higashi of the University of Puget Sound explained plans for February 1992 events marking the 50th anniversary of Executive Order 9066. Delegates also discussed anti-Asian hate crimes, redress administration issues, and possible exchange programs with Japan JACL chapters.
• Contra Costa Chapter Awards Top Scholars, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Contra Costa Chapter JACL awarded scholarships to outstanding high school seniors Anna Morita and Dan Delcolio at its senior appreciation dinner. Congressman George Miller presented the awards.
• L.A. Unified Seeks Commissioners for Asian/Pacific American Education Panel, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The Asian/Pacific American Education Commission of the Los Angeles Unified School District is seeking individuals to fill three vacancies on its 29-member volunteer commission. Candidates must have interest in quality education for Asian and Pacific Rim students and serve as liaisons between community, school and district.
• Policeman’s Storefront Caters to Asian Refugees in Texas, by Herbert Ogawa, page 5. Detective Charles Beltram runs a community storefront program in Haltom City, Texas, serving the growing Southeast Asian refugee population after uncovering unreported crimes while investigating the gang-related slaying of a young Vietnamese man. The program has helped dissipate refugees’ cultural reluctance to contact law enforcement.
• Chicago Memorial to Be Unveiled at Nisei Post Ceremony, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The Chicago Nisei Post 1183, American Legion, will dedicate a new memorial monument at Montrose Cemetery during Memorial Day services. The memorial, featuring Japanese floral and rock elements, was funded through the efforts of the late Arthur Okawa.
• Fifth-Grader Mariko Kawabori Designs Game for the Blind, by Ed Suguro, page 9. Eleven-year-old Mariko Kawabori of Briarcrest Elementary School invented a textured memory-matching game for blind children that has since been manufactured and sold to over 60 school districts. Described as a ‘Renaissance girl,’ she has also created other games and pursues music, art and poetry.
• Personally Speaking, by P.C. Staff, page 9. A roundup column reports on various Japanese American community members’ personal and professional milestones, including Boy Scouts earning Eagle awards, appointments to city commissions, and career achievements. Individuals mentioned include Kris Gima, Dean Watanabe, Glenn Horiuchi, Dr. Toshio Inahara, and others.
• Personally Speaking (continued), by P.C. Staff, page 11. The column continues with news of Edwin Hiroto’s planned retirement from Keiro Services after 33 years of expanding the organization into a multi-service senior healthcare enterprise, and Dr. Reiko Homma True’s resignation from the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Other notes cover community members’ honors and appointments, including Mayor Tom Kitayama’s supervisorial appointment consideration.

In-Depth

• Home Movies Preserve Early Japanese American Life for New Museum, by Chris Komai, page 5. The Japanese American National Museum is preserving rare home movies filmed by Issei pioneers including Rev. Sensho Sasaki, Naokichi Hashizume, and Masahachi Nakata, documenting family, community and work life from the 1920s through the 1940s. Curator Robert Nakamura is editing the footage with computer enhancement for a multi-screen presentation as part of the Museum’s upcoming ‘Issei Pioneer Exhibit.’

Commentary

• Professor Tatsumi’s Japanese Class Remembered, by Bill Hosokawa, page 8. Bill Hosokawa recalls his experience as a young student learning Japanese from Professor Henry Tatsumi at the University of Washington, describing the challenges of the coursework and Tatsumi’s humor, including a memorable classroom joke about the word ‘Nebraska.’ He reflects on Tatsumi’s legacy as a pioneering teacher of Japanese language to Americans, noting his passing before a planned profile could be written.
• NAPABA Lawyers Convene in Houston, by Bill Marutani, page 8. Bill Marutani writes about attending the second annual convention of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association in Houston, highlighting its goals including addressing glass ceilings and inter-minority relations. He also notes Asian American judicial appointments across the country and previews the third NAPABA convention planned for Seattle.
• Seeks Funds to Defend Fired College Official, page 8. A Cal Poly Pomona student writes a letter explaining the case of G. Akito Maehara, a staff advisor fired after supporting a student protest against alleged campus police misconduct toward minority students. The letter appeals for community support to fund a legal defense before an upcoming deadline.

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